


Farther

by cymyguy



Series: Stick [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Baby Shower, Bisexual Female Character, F/M, Fluff, Genderswap, Living Together, Unplanned Pregnancy, college athletes, light angst (sports related), shopping for baby clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 10:44:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20062744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cymyguy/pseuds/cymyguy
Summary: She has to work to keep things normal on the outside, the part Hinata sees, because on the inside, things are sometimes less than normal. Like now, when Hinata’s doing something for her. It’s often the very small things that she can feel crumbling another part of her wall. Then she trips over these much shorter walls, and falls farther into his arms, farther into his mercy.





	Farther

Hinata’s national tournament is the first week of March. Kageyama doesn’t like watching the broadcast at the student center or the dorm commons area, so she’s at her parents’ for the semifinal match. Even her parents are prone to leaving her alone, because:

“Idiot!” she hisses. “You should’ve used him there!”

In her defense, she’s not usually this into it. But Hinata said he was going to win. That Karasuno would assert their volleyball dominance by combining their women’s championship with a men’s. And Kageyama had said she wasn’t going to get her hopes up. Then, yesterday, Hinata’s team went and beat a team they hadn’t beaten in _nine years_, to make it to today’s semi. And it’s really not her fault anyway, that it’s impossible to watch Hinata play, really watch him, and not want him to win. So here she is, clenching her fists and her teeth for long point stretches, and between outbursts.

“What are you doing?”

“Urgh, come on!”

“GO!”

The other middle blocker misses his serve, and she stands up and throws her Karasuno hankie across the room.

Hinata’s blocks aren’t getting high enough. He needs to go out farther on the slides, not that the setter could _get _it to him; Nakamura looks like he needs to be benched for a while to wake him up. Hinata’s spike sails out of bounds.

“Come _on_.”

She won’t tell her doctor, but this is way more stressful on her body than actually playing in her own tournament. This team is not better than them; they’re less athletic, less powerful, less _dangerous_, but Karasuno is _losing _in the fourth set, and they’ve already dropped two. The opponents score on a block out, and Kageyama glares at the ceiling.

When they finally get the ball back, it’s 15 to 7, and Hinata’s serve.

“You can’t miss this, dumbass.”

He doesn’t, but it comes up as a perfect receive, their setter taking a step and a half to be ready for it. The spike ticks off the blocker’s fingers.

“Touch!” she hollers with him.

Hinata runs, off the corner of the court, blowing through the plastic barriers. He dives, swings with one arm, and the ball catches his knuckles, but falls to the ground. Hinata slams into the bleachers. When the libero subs for him, he goes off with a bloody lip. All that effort, and the result was the same as if he’d missed the serve in the first place. Kageyama clucks her tongue and drops back onto the couch.

By the time Hinata comes back in in the front row, Karasuno has been forced into desperation mode. The first rally is a long one. Kageyama watches him get four of the six sets, and try everything he can think of, but he can’t break through. It’s pounded down their throats again.

She throws up her hands. “You guys are better than that!”

Someone shanks off the next serve, and Nishinoya can’t get there to save the play.

“Shit,” she murmurs, sinking back onto the couch as her heart sinks into her stomach. Another point ticks away for the opponents. Hinata said he’d go farther than this, he said he’d make the championship. Now he’s shut out, stuffed like a turkey, for another lost point. You can’t count on other people to come through when they say they will.

But she wanted to count on him. There’s something about Hinata in particular that makes her act stupid, apparently. Now it’s her own fault, that she’s so sickeningly disappointed.

Hinata falls out of his jump as he watches the ball go to the outside hitter, who hits it off the antenna, ending the game. Kageyama shuts off the TV and throws the remote aside, slumping low into the cushions with a dull scowl.

When Hinata finally gets back, two evenings later, she is in her room. The door closes, and then there’s a loud thud that makes her jump. It seemed less like an accident and more like purposeful. Her heart thumps a little hard.

“Hinata?”

“Kageyama? S—Sorry! I didn’t know you were here!”

She frowns, but resolves to stay out of his business.

He’s definitely not inviting her into his business, anyway. He’s creepily quiet, the first few days, and she doesn’t even see him more than once. The second time is at the gym, when she’s finished up a meeting with Coach Ukai, and is just circling the secondary court to get to the exit. She comes across Hinata in a deserted corner of the gym, with one ball for company. So this is where he’s been so much. She pauses, and turns away from the exit and toward him.

When he notices her he flinches, then looks hastily at the wall. He holds his ball, but doesn’t turn as she approaches, probably thinking she’s going to say something about the last match.

“Snap your wrist more.”

She takes his right hand away from the ball and tilts his wrist down.

“Your hand should finish in this position, from a smooth motion, like this.”

She straightens his wrist, then bends it again. When she lets go, Hinata tosses the ball and smacks it at the wall. She steps in front of him to catch it, then adjusts his wrist.

“Again.”

She stands there for another minute, observing his reps, then nods, and leaves.

The next time she’s in the gym, it’s for practice of her own. She’s off to the side, forced to sit out of a drill that’s too strenuous. Instead an assistant coach is showing her video of herself, so together they can correct a few lapses in her form on certain plays. It’s proving difficult, as her form as a whole isn’t up to standard right now, what with the large shift in posture that’s come about in her six months of pregnancy.

“It’s alright, Kageyama-kun.” The assistant smiles at her scowling. “No need to get frustrated. We both know that under normal circumstances you’d have no problem adjusting. And now you’re aware, that’s all we needed to accomplish.”

She argues, but only in her head, as she glances around at the rest of the team. The gym is empty, except for Coach Ukai and one other assistant.

“Hey, where did they go? Coach! Is practice over?” she demands.

“Stairs,” he calls back. Kageyama scowls. They know she can still do stairs, they shouldn’t be leaving her behind.

“Thank you Uno-san.”

She bows and hands her the ball, then jogs to the corner of the gym, mounting the stairs at a fast walk. She gets to the top of the third flight, and sees the team gathered around a table. There’s pink balloons and other pink things, and everyone’s smiling at her. She cocks her head.

“Surprise!”

Kageyama blinks and glances behind her.

“It’s—not my birth—”

“It’s a baby shower!” their new captain says. “For you and the baby!”

She stares for a second, then feels herself blushing, and smiling.

The team, riding high on their successful ambush, crowds her toward the table, singing a few party songs through their laughter. There are pink candies of various kinds, a big box wrapped in colorful paper, and a huge tri-fold board that they reveal to her once the coaches have joined them and everyone’s had some candy. They used an app, Kaori explains, and each made a guess of what her daughter will look like, by selecting features from the baby pictures they borrowed from her parents, and from Hinata. The images are surprisingly realistic, each stuck to the board and signed by the guesser, and Tobio is thoroughly fascinated. Mostly by the three baby Hinata pictures in one top corner; they’re fucking adorable, of course, but she’s pretty offended by just how adorable the little grinning gremlin is.

“We’ll have to see who had the closest guess, after she’s born,” Coach Uno says.

Kageyama eagerly opens the gift they all chipped in for. There’s a box of diapers, a set of pacifiers with little animal images, and—

“They make these?” Tobio says, astounded, as she lifts up a tiny Adidas track suit and matching socks emblazoned with the logo.

“You’re going to have the cutest baby, Tobio,” says Yukie, gesturing at the board, “So we had to get her something cute to wear.”

Kageyama, per usual, doesn’t have much in the way of words, but her bright eyes, and the little wavering smiles, say enough for her team.

When she comes back home she leaves her door open, waiting impatiently for Hinata, who doesn’t come back until after dinner.

“Hinata!”

The door drops shut, and it’s silent for a moment, before he comes bolting into her room. He’s holding himself like he’s ready for anything, but his face says he’s seconds away from an all-consuming panic.

“My team had a baby shower. They gave me diapers and pacifiers and these.”

Tobio holds up the track suit and socks. He lights up.

“That’s so cute!”

He comes over and takes the suit to look closer.

“They made a board where they all guessed what she’ll look like, too,” she says.

“Oh yeah, they asked me for baby pictures. Did you keep the board? I want to see.”

“Um—No.”

“That was obviously a lie,” he cries, pointing accusingly.

“They made it for me,” she snaps back.

“You’re just embarrassed about me seeing your pictures. But you saw mine so now it’s only fair. Hand it over!”

She pulls it out from behind her bed. “Fine, take it, whatever!”

He grins in spite of her snarling and unfolds the board.

“Waaaaa!”

She blushes. Then _Hinata _blushes. He peeks at her over the board, then goes back to his furious squinting study.

“A—Our baby’s going to be the cutest!” he finally declares.

She clucks her tongue. “Of course.”

Hinata sits down in front of her bed and props the board on the floor.

“Which one do you think she’ll be most like?”

She shrugs.

“I think this one, or this one. I like this one too, and that one’s really cute. This one too!”

“Maybe this one,” Kageyama says, pointing to a corner.

“Oh. With—my hair?” He looks at her.

“What’s wrong with it?”

He shrugs. “Nothing. Will she have brown eyes, then?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, she’ll be cute no matter what.”

“How much do you think she’ll weigh?” says Kageyama.

“I don’t know, Kageyama, you’re the one carrying her around. How much do you think?”

“I don’t know, probably normal.”

“What’s normal?”

She rolls her eyes. “Like three kilograms.”

“Oh. Yeah. That seems good.”

“I hope she’ll be healthy,” she murmurs.

“She will be, you’re taking good care of her. She’ll be perfect!”

She’s not sure. She’s never had someone relying on her for something besides volleyball before. There are so many things that have to work properly, little lungs and eyes and fingers…It seems easy for something to just, not.

“Kageyama? Are you worried?”

“No. She’s been fine at all the checkups.”

“Yeah, see? And you’re almost done now, right? So she just has to grow a little more. Then she’ll be perfect.”

Hinata has faith in her.

He trusts her.

On the Friday of their spring break week, Hinata comes back from his third trip to the gym with a proposition for her.

“So, I was wondering, because my dad said if we’re not busy—If you’re free this weekend and would want to go—Um, would you like to come to my family’s house again?”

“Okay.”

“A—Wha? Did—Okay?”

She scowls.

“You didn’t even wait for my reason,” he sputters.

That’s because she already has her own reason; if Hinata wants to go out and do something this weekend, it means what he won’t be doing is wallowing in his failure, so she doesn’t want to discourage his recovery.

“Well it’s your family, and the baby’s your family now, so it just makes sense,” she says.

“Okay but I have another good reason too! My dad said his store just marked down a bunch of their baby stuff from winter, because they got new stuff, you know, and they have this big sale thing this weekend, so—If we wanted to go there, we could get some stuff for her and use my dad’s employee discount too and it’d be a good deal. If you were gonna go shopping with your friends or something we don’t have to but I just thought I’d ask. If you wanted to.”

She nods.

“You will? You want to?”

“Yeah. We need to get some stuff.”

“Okay. Okay! So, do you want to go tomorrow morning, or later today, or—whenever?”

She shrugs. “We can go today.”

“Alright!”

So Kageyama finds herself packing all the weather-appropriate clothes that still fit her. It’s a good thing she has lots of tennis shoes to choose from, because certain pairs are starting to get tighter on her feet than she can stand; this is possibly the most unwelcome of all the size and shape changes, for a person with such an active lifestyle, and she resents Hinata more for his tiny feet than the tiny rest of him, because she can’t even borrow his slippers.

The result of all her deliberating is that Hinata beats her to the front door. She wrestles her keys out of her bag in order to declare that they’re taking her car, but then he opens the door for her, so she’s still one-upped.

“You forgot to tie your shoes,” Hinata says.

“I didn’t forget.” She tries to pull her stomach in as she looks at her feet.

“Then how come you were about to walk out with them untied?”

She chooses not to answer, instead leaning against the wall and attempting to lift her knee up toward her. Then she tries to bring her foot up to the side. She huffs and drops her bag, moving back toward the couch so she can sit down.

“I got it,” Hinata says, “I got it.”

He jumps around and kneels in front of her, blocking her way, and starts tightening her laces himself. Her neck feels hot, and she scowls down at stupid helpful Hinata.

“You call that a knot? How is that going to keep it on my foot?”

She kicks away from him.

“You didn’t even let me double it yet!” He grabs her ankle. “Hold still, Kageyama—”

“That one’s too long, I’ll step on it! Pull the loop out more.”

“Would you rather I tie them together?”

She pulls a fistful of his hair.

“Ow! I’m doing you a favor!” He smacks her arm away.

She has to work to keep things normal on the outside, the part Hinata sees, because on the inside, things are sometimes less than normal. Like now, when Hinata’s doing something for her. It’s often the very small things that she can feel crumbling another part of her wall. Then she trips over these much shorter walls, and falls farther into his arms, farther into his mercy.

It’s weird, she thinks, as they’re getting close to his hometown. She used to know Hinata just by face. Well, basically by hair. Now they’re taking a weekend trip to see his family.

“Why do you keep looking at me?”

“Shut up.”

“I wasn’t saying anything!”

“Does your sister still have a problem with me?” Kageyama wants to know.

“She’s never had a problem with you—”

“She hid from me and never talked to me the whole time I was at your house during New Years.”

“She was just being weird that time. She is a teenage girl. And she never said once that she doesn’t like you.”

“Maybe she’s mad that I got pregnant.”

“Why would she be mad that you’re pregnant?”

“I don’t know, she’s _your _sister.”

“She’s not mad.”

“Then she just doesn’t like me.”

“There’s no reason she wouldn’t like you.”

She snorts. “That, coming from you?”

“What? What, you think I don’t like you?”

“Maybe—she does like me.”

“Of course she does. She does like you. Wait, why did you say that so weirdly?”

“Maybe she likes me, like, as a crush.”

Hinata is silent, and when she glances, he’s staring.

“What?” Kageyama says. “Has she ever told you she _doesn’t _like girls?”

“L—Likes—girls?”

“Well if I was her and knew I liked girls, I’d have a crush on a college volleyball player too. And I’d be embarrassed when she talked to me, and I’d want to look cute around her.”

“You’re saying my _sister _has a crush on you?”

“Well you said she acted weird, and you said it wasn’t because she doesn’t like me.” She shrugs.

Hinata is quiet the rest of the ride, so she’s grateful for that, even if she didn’t really figure out why his sister hates her.

Hinata’s dad is sitting in a chair on the little front porch, apparently enjoying the weather as he waited for their arrival. He smiles and waves at Kageyama, who waves back, as Hinata leaps out of the car.

“Hey Dad!”

“Do you need help with your bag?”

“I’m good.”

He laughs. “I meant to direct that more toward Kageyama.”

“Oh. Yeah. She’s fine, she likes to do things herself.”

“But should she be?”

“I’m fine,” Kageyama says, approaching with her bag.

His dad smiles broadly. “How have you been feeling?”

“Fine.”

“And you’ve passed all your exams?”

“Um, we haven’t taken exams yet.”

He laughs. “I meant your doctor’s visits, have they gone well?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

Hinata snorts, and when his dad turns away she kicks his ankle.

“Natsu’s been asking all about you, Kageyama,” his dad says. “How you’ve been feeling, and if you’ve picked out names, and if you think she’ll come early or late.”

She looks at Hinata, and Hinata looks at her. Then he asks his dad:

“Is Natsu around?”

“Upstairs,” he sighs.

“Want me to take your bag up, Kageyama?”

She hands it off.

“Speaking of that,” his dad says, “I thought, since the two of you are roommates now, that you might not mind sharing a room so much, so I put the new futon in there. But it can be moved, of course.”

“Oh, you got a futon?” says Hinata.

“Well, since Kageyama might be staying with us more often, now, Natsu and I agreed we should make an arrangement.”

They both look at Kageyama, who struggles for a moment.

“It’s not worth that trouble.”

It takes all her willpower not to cover her face with her hands. That sounded rude, like she has no intention of coming often. She breathes.

“I mean, that was thoughtful of you. I’m sorry for the trouble.” She bows.

“It’s no trouble. We want you to be comfortable.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“I’ll be back,” Hinata announces, hauling their bags to the stairs.

His dad offers snacks and asks her more about the pregnancy. Hinata is gone too long to only be dropping off their luggage, and she gets nervous about him talking to his sister, but she has to focus on being attentive to his dad right now, because they’re running out of things to say on the one topic.

“Did you watch Sho’s last game?”

She looks up quickly, and nods. His smile is much smaller now.

“It was a tough one,” he says.

Then they hear a door slam above, and Hinata comes thumping down the stairs.

“It’s really nice out,” he says. “Should we go for a walk later? We’re definitely _not _running this time, Kageyama.”

His dad laughs.

They do go for a walk, before dinner, but only the three of them. She listens to Hinata catch up with his dad. Then they eat, and watch a talent contest that his dad’s been following on TV. When they turn in for the night, Hinata reasons that since the futon is newer, it’s probably more comfortable, so Kageyama should sleep there. She doesn’t argue, and nothing else is said before she falls asleep.

Kageyama gets up a couple hours later; since the baby’s kicked her bladder relentlessly, now she has to pee. She does a double take toward the bed, and sees that Hinata is not there anymore. She goes into the hall, and sees a light on downstairs. She pees, then creeps down a few steps. She hears voices, and creeps a little farther. Hinata and his dad are in the kitchen.

“—but I don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t keep doing the same thing, because it’s not—working!”

“You’re on a team, Sho. You don’t have to put all the pressure on yourself to figure things out, because you have teammates and coaches to help you do that.”

“But I have to be enough on my own, to be worth something to them. I have to earn my place, before I deserve their help. I didn’t—I didn’t earn my place in that game.”

“You shouldn’t feel that way, when you’re doing your best,” his dad says quietly.

“I want to _win_, Dad—”

He chokes down a sob. Kageyama gapes in the shadows, and a chill washes over her, painfully slowly.

“If I can’t be the best where I am now, how am I going to make it farther? To where I want to be?”

Kageyama turns and goes back up the stairs.

She lies awake, even as the baby is calm inside her. She did the same thing the night she won, after they all finally settled down around 2 am. But that was different. She didn’t sleep, because she was content to be awake.

Volleyball is hard. Every practice is hard, because you push yourself to the limits of your strength, your patience, your pain tolerance. And everything you put in, all of it comes back out at once, in that one scream, that one fist clench, after that one last point. It’s hard to sleep after that happens.

She knows that Hinata’s not all talk. She knows he worked hard to prepare for that tournament. She also knows perfectly well how it feels when your momentum comes to a brain-shaking halt in the semifinals.

The door clicks open and Hinata comes back in. She’s turned toward the wall on her side of the room, but he walks right past her, and hearing the swish of his shorts is even worse than seeing him, probably red-eyed with tear stains dried on his cheeks. Kageyama wipes at the corners of her eyes, quickly and silently.

Late the next morning they’re getting ready to go shopping. Kageyama and Hinata are just finishing breakfast when she asks him:

“Is your sister coming?”

“Um, I don’t think so.”

She glares until he looks at her.

“Gah! What?”

“Did you tell her what I said?”

“No! I just—I only said I noticed that she’s shy around you and does she maybe like—”

“You are such an idiot.”

“Hey! Wait, where are you going?”

Kageyama marches upstairs and knocks on his sister’s door.

“Hey, um—Hinata-kun, it’s Kageyama. Can I talk to you? About—” She glances around her. “Your brother?”

A voice comes from inside.

“Um—Just a second!”

Kageyama turns to him.

“Leave. You already made it worse.”

“I was just—I was being supportive! And I’m her brother, she should talk to me about stuff.”

“Maybe she would if you weren’t a dumbass.”

“You are so rude today,” he hisses. “In my own house.”

“Good morning.”

She turns, and sees the door cracked open. Natsu bows her head through it.

“Kageyama-san.”

“Hi. Um—” She bows back. “Can I come in?”

She blushes, and bows again, and steps away from the door. “Yes, Kageyama-san.”

“What’s with the san? You know I’m your older broth—”

Kageyama shuts the door on him. She turns to Natsu. “Your brother’s stupid.”

She smiles, then hides it behind her hand. “I know.”

“Hey!”

Kageyama pounds once on the door.

“Um, I don’t really know what he said, but I just wanted to tell you that I want us to be on good terms,” Kageyama says. “Since you’ll be the baby’s aunt, and part of her family. I would like us to be friends.”

“Gosh Kageyama, this isn’t Pokemon,” he says from outside. She hits the door again. “Ow!”

“I don’t know why you haven’t been talking to me while I’m here, but if it was because you’re embarrassed or intimidated, you don’t need to be.”

“Yeah, she’s a way bigger loser than you, Natsu.”

Kageyama lets them lapse into silence. Natsu is red-faced and avoiding her eyes, and she’s about to apologize and leave her room, but then she speaks up.

“I—didn’t know he was bringing home someone so pretty,” she says to her socks. She gets even more red, and ducks her chin farther. “But I don’t have a—I don’t have a crush on you, that’d be really creepy because you’re so old and you’re having my brother’s baby.”

She looks up just then, and Kageyama nods and tries not to look offended. Teenagers consider her old?

Then Natsu bows. “I’m sorry if you thought I was creepy.”

“I didn’t. I just thought you hated me.”

She squeaks and bows deeper. “I don’t hate you Kageyama-san!”

She shrugs. “Other people do, so it’d be okay if you did. I would rather be on good terms with Hinata’s family, though.”

His sister nods, wide-eyed, and as Kageyama looks at her, she sees so much Hinata that she has to smile. She won’t mind at all if her daughter looks like them. She just won’t tell Hinata that.

“Um—” She rubs her neck. “I also like girls. Girls and boys, obviously.”

“You do? You like girls?”

Natsu bounces back onto her bed, watching her intently.

“Yeah. I liked boys because all the other girls did, I guess, but then I figured out I like girls too.”

“Girls are awesome.” Natsu smiles.

Kageyama smiles back. “Yeah.”

“Did you tell everyone?” Natsu says.

“Only if they asked.”

“Did they ask?”

“Not a lot.”

“Did you tell your parents?”

“No. I’ve never been in a relationship, or interested in having one, and then I got pregnant, so, they don’t really need to know I’m interested in both. Not right now.”

Natsu nods. As they are quiet, she slowly starts to blush again. Kageyama tries to wrap it up.

“Whatever your brother said, I didn’t—I didn’t assume anything. I was just wondering. And I won’t ask you to tell me or anyone, because no one needs to know.”

She bows, then turns and opens the door, immediately grabbing Hinata by the shirt. She looks over her shoulder when Natsu speaks again.

“Kageyama-san? If you guys are going shopping today, can I come?”

“Sure,” she says. Hinata gives a thumbs up.

“Okay, I’ll get ready.”

Kageyama closes her door, then shoves Hinata down the hall.

“I’ve never heard you talk so much, Kageyama-kun,” he singsongs. “But you were so awkward it was hard to listen to.”

“Shut up, I fixed it after you screwed everything up.”

“I didn’t even do anything.”

When they get to the bottom of the stairs, he says:

“Um, you’re going to be a good parent.”

She rolls her eyes. “I expect you to catch up.”

“I will! And who says I’m behind you?”

When they get to the store, Hinata’s dad provides them with a shopping cart, then starts his rounds to talk to his coworkers. The three of them come across the baby section in a matter of seconds.

“Ohhh, look at this stuff.” Hinata presses his hands to his face. “So cute! So tiny!”

“I don’t think this is the sale stuff,” Kageyama says.

“Aww, look at these little rompers,” says Natsu.

“These are adorable!”

Hinata holds up a blue one. Kageyama squints. There’s a sticker on it that says ‘turn me around.’ They look at each other. Then Hinata spins the hanger, and they see that there’s a big pink heart sewn onto the butt.

“Oh my gosh!”

“We need a small size, so she can wear it this summer,” Kageyama says, flicking through the rack.

“Hey this one says that too.”

Hinata picks up a gray romper and turns it around. There is a cloud with a smiley face. She gasps, and he wails.

“That’s _cute_!”

“Okay, we’ll get this one and that one,” she says, “But we have to go to the sale section now.”

“This way.” Natsu leads them on.

Kageyama has shopped with her mother here and there, but she’s definitely more into it now that she’s so big, and has pretty detailed pictures of her daughter-to-be. And even though they argue almost non-stop, shopping with Hinata is fun.

“This one’s good,” she says of the green and gray diaper bag.

“But what if I have to carry it? There’s nothing wrong with the blue one.”

“Well I like this one!”

“Come on Kageyama, work with me!”

“It’s not like it looks like a purse or something. You can carry this one just fine. Or put some diapers in your gym bag.”

She puts it in their cart, and he sighs.

“Do you guys want some little toys for her?” says Natsu.

“Yeah!” Hinata grabs a bear, then a cloud plush. “This one rattles!”

“Let me see.” She checks the price tag. “Let’s get it.”

“You guys like cloud stuff, huh? Is that going to be your theme or something?”

Kageyama looks at Hinata, who seems just as clueless. Natsu stifles a laugh behind her hand, and they go on looking through the toys and socks. They pick out a few more things, then move to the clothing racks.

“You’re super stylish, Kageyama-kun,” says Hinata, “And our baby’s gonna be stylish too!”

“She can’t have everything. And that’s ugly anyway.”

“What? It’s not ugly! How can baby clothes be ugly?”

“I don’t like the little puffballs,” Natsu says, and Kageyama nods. He rolls his eyes and puts the shirt back.

“This is cute.” His sister holds up a blue hoodie with a rainbow on the back.

“That’s adorable,” says Kageyama. It’s also cheap, so it goes in the cart.

“Hey, they have sports brands in here!”

Hinata pulls out a Nike shirt and pants set.

“That’s a toddler size,” Kageyama says.

“Well she’ll grown into it. It’s cute, right?”

Kageyama pulls out a different set. “I like this one better.”

“That’s the same thing, it’s just orange instead of pink. And the baby’s going to wear it, so what if she likes pink better than orange?”

“It’s still a lot,” Kageyama says, putting her set back.

“A lot of what?”

“Money, dumbass.”

“Nah ah, we have the coupon and my dad gets a discount, and it’s Nike!”

Hinata puts his pink outfit in the cart. It becomes even more obvious as they continue shopping that he is not very money-conscious. But Kageyama has a specific budget for them to make, and a list of things they’ll need to fit within that budget, and negotiating with him is the fun part of being responsible.

“Are these cute?”

He holds up some jeans.

“No.”

“Darn. She has to be the cutest!”

“She will be the cutest.”

Kageyama puts a tank top in the cart. Then a pair of shorts. Then a little denim jacket. She pulls out a Nike onesie that’s actually decently priced, but royal blue.

“Will this one look too much like a boy?” she asks Hinata.

“No way, that’s so cool! She can wear her little Nike shoes with it.”

She nods and puts it on the pile.

“Kageyama-san, this one?”

Natsu shows her a yellow onesie with strawberries. She smiles and nods. Then she checks the list.

“We need summer pajamas in small sizes.”

“Hmm…” Hinata pulls out two shorts sets. “These, or these?”

“Both.”

He grins.

“These ones have sports on them, and they’re for girls.”

Natsu hands them over. Kageyama checks the price and puts them in.

“What about this?”

Blue footy pajamas with tiny white hearts.

“That’s _cute_.”

He whoops. “I’m starting to get good at this!”

“She’ll need 9 months for winter, do they have it in that?”

He pulls one out with a flourish. Kageyama spies a set of butterfly onesies, just as Hinata pulls out a set of elephant ones, and Natsu a set of bunny ones. She looks at all the prices, does some quick math guessing, and approves them all.

“She’ll need lots of those anyway.”

Hinata grins. “You don’t have to feel guilty about spoiling her yet, she’s not even born.”

Then his dad comes over to them, to approve and encourage, and Kageyama thinks she must be the only one who’s aware that they’re both jobless college students. His dad reminds her that they have a maternity section in the store, and tells Hinata about the new sports brands they’ve gotten in for summer. Once he leaves, Kageyama brings his focus back to their current task with a monkey themed bib.

“Hinata, look at this.”

“Waaaaah—”

“Shoyo, Kageyama, look at this one!”

Natsu holds up an owl onesie with matching pants.

“How much is that?” Kageyama says immediately.

“Nine dollars.”

“Put it in.”

Natsu giggles.

There are even snowsuits on sale, and she chooses a pale pink one with a furry hood. As she tests out the little zipper, she smiles. Hinata catches her, grinning ear to ear when they make eye contact. Then he holds up a cotton sweat suit, with clouds on the elbows and knees. She gapes and snatches it.

After a good three hours, she finally cuts them off.

“Okay, that’s enough. My parents will want to get her gifts anyway, so I’ll tell my mom what we didn’t buy.”

“Do you want to go to the maternity section now, Kageyama? You probably need some things for yourself too.”

“I don’t need anything,” she scoffs.

“Come on.” He nudges her side. “You’ve been working hard carrying her around all this time, you should get something for yourself. Natsu can go with you, and I’ll go to the men’s section.”

She glares at the back of his head as he scoots off.

“I can show you where the maternity is,” Natsu says.

“Okay.”

She finds a few shirts and one sweatshirt. Natsu is the one to point out some casual dresses, and Kageyama thanks her for finding them, because not having to put on pants is the greatest gift she could be given right now.

When they meet up with Hinata again, he doesn’t have anything to put in the cart. Kageyama, feeling guilty, is about to berate him, but:

“I decided I don’t need anything right now, since the baby’s coming soon.” He glances at her, scratching his head. “We still need to get a crib and stuff, right?”

Kageyama nods.

They come in right at her budget. Hinata’s dad charges it on his store card, and then Kageyama hands him the bills in payment and thanks him.

“Thanks Dad.”

He pats Hinata’s shoulder and smiles. “You two are going to do a great job!”

As they sit in their room that evening, going excitedly through all their purchases again, Kageyama gets a weird feeling. It’s almost like nerves, but she never gets those, and her baby’s keeping still right now—

Oh. She’s going to have a _baby_.

“What’s she going to wear when she’s born? We should pick out a special outfit for—Um, Kageyama? Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she almost laughs. She raises her arm to rub at her shoulder, trying to block her face as she blushes.

When she looks at Hinata again, his head is cocked to the side, and he’s smiling, softly.

“Now that we bought all the clothes and everything,” he says, “I’m—um—starting to get kind of nervous. Like excited! But scared.”

“Pf.”

“That’s _normal_, Kageyama, you’re supposed to be nervous for your first kid! Except you’re Miss Freaking Perfect, so you’re totally prepared, and, whatever I guess.”

“I’m not.”

“Not what?”

“Prepared. Not totally,” she says. “I’m still in school, and I’m not—married, or anything…I still want to do it, though.”

“Yeah…”

“She should wear one of these when we bring her home.” Kageyama holds up the elephant onesie set. “Since you got them in such a tiny size, that might be the only day she fits into them.”

“Well we should be prepared if she is really small,” he crows. “No matter what size she is she’ll have something cute to wear on her first day, thanks to me.”

He smiles, then.

“It’s weird, that it’ll just be her first day. Not her first day of school, or first day of practice.”

Kageyama’s eyes go a little wide.

“Just her first day,” he finishes.

She doesn’t answer. She wants that first day to come, quickly, and she wants it to go perfectly for their daughter. They don’t feel pain as they’re coming out, do they? Does the light hurt their eyes? Will she—Will she be breathing?

Kageyama sucks in a deep breath of her own, scolding herself back to calm. Hinata’s giving her another look. She starts to take the onesies off their mini hangers.

“You pick which one.”

She lays them out in front of him.

“This one.”

“I like this one.”

“You said I could pick!”

“Fine! If she looks more like you, she can wear that one, and if she looks more like me, she’ll wear this one.”

“Deal.” He smirks confidently.

They’re into the seventh month now. It’ll only be a little longer. Only a little farther.


End file.
